Around the World in 80 Days [DVD] [2004]: Amazon.co.uk: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile De France, Jim Broadbent, Ian McNeice, Ewen Bremner, David Ryall, Mark Addy, Kathy Bates, John Cleese, Macy Gray, Sammo Hung, Karen Joy Morris (Karen Mok), Maggie Q, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rob Schneider, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Daniel Wu, Richard Branson, Frank Coraci: DVD & Blu-ray Around the World in 80 Days [DVD] [2004] Â£3.74 & FREE Delivery in the UK on orders dispatched by Amazon over Â£20. Details Only 3 left in stock. This item can be delivered to your selected dispatch location in the United States. Details Sold by DVD Overstocks and Fulfilled by Amazon . Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a service Amazon offers sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon directly does the picking, packing, shipping and customer service on these items.

Something Amazon hopes you'll especially enjoy: FBA items are eligible for and for Amazon Prime just as if they were Amazon items. If you're a seller, you can increase your sales significantly by using Fulfilment by Amazon. We invite you to learn more about this programme . Note: This item is eligible for click and collect. Details Pick up your parcel at a time and place that suits you. Choose from over 13,000 locations across the UK Prime members get unlimited deliveries at no additional cost How to order to an Amazon Pickup Location? Find your preferred location and add it to your address book Dispatch to this address when you check out 31 new from Â£2.20 70 used from Â£0.01 1 collectible from Â£3.75 See all buying options Around the World in 80 Days [DVD] [2004] Â£3.74 & FREE Delivery in the UK on orders dispatched by Amazon over Â£20. Details Only 3 left in stock. Sold by DVD Overstocks and Fulfilled by Amazon .

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a service Amazon offers sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon directly does the picking, packing, shipping and customer service on these items. Something Amazon hopes you'll especially enjoy: FBA items are eligible for and for Amazon Prime just as if they were Amazon items. If you're a seller, you can increase your sales significantly by using Fulfilment by Amazon. We invite you to learn more about this programme . Frequently Bought Together These items are dispatched from and sold by different sellers. Show details Buy the selected items together This item:Around the World in 80 Days [DVD] [2004] by Jackie Chan DVD Â£3.74 Only 3 left in stock. Sold by DVD Overstocks and sent from Amazon Fulfillment. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£20. Details Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£20. Details What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item? Format: Dolby, Digital Sound, Anamorphic, Widescreen, PAL Language: English, German, Hindi, Turkish Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe.

Read more about DVD formats. ) Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1 DVD Release Date: 15 Nov. 2004 Run Time: 115 minutes Product Description Product Description Playful retelling of Jules Verne's classic novel, starring Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan. Chan plays Passepartout, valet to the neurotic, time-obsessed English inventor, Phileas Fogg (Coogan), who has made a wager with fellow members at his London gentleman's club that he can traverse the globe in only 80 days using as many kinds of transportation as possible (from boats and trains to hot-air balloons and elephants). Unfortunately, the London police have mistakenly identified Fogg as the perpetrator of a bank robbery that took place just before he left the country, and a relentless detective is in hot pursuit of the unlikely pair. To complicate matters further, Passepartout is not what he seems: he is in fact notorious Chinese thief Lau Xing, and has entered Fogg's employ for the prinicipal purpose of lying low after stealing a priceless jade Buddha...

From Amazon.co.uk The 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days is an entertaining hodge-podge of adventure, comedy, and scenery from across the globe. Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People), an obsessively precise inventor, bets that he can circumnavigate the planet in 80 days--considered impossible in the Victorian era. In this version, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese peasant who retrieves a stolen idol from the Bank of England, then convinces Fogg to hire him as a French valet so that Chan can get back to his village. Chan supplies numerous spectacular fights against the forces trying to stop Fogg or get the idol, while Coogan is both funny and a surprisingly appealing romantic lead (he flirts with a fetching French painter who joins them). The various episodes--featuring cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Owen Wilson, and Sammo Hung--are uneven, but a goofy good cheer prevails. --Bret Fetzer Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items.

In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Movie Review: Around the World in 80 Days AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS U.S. Release Date: June 16, 2004 Distributor: Buena Vista MPAA Rating: PG (for action violence, some crude humor and mild language) Slow Boat to China by Scott Holleran Disney and Walden Media hold to writer Jules Verne's original plot in Hollywood's latest remake, Around the World in 80 Days, yet Jackie Chan, whose secondary role subsumes the picture, keeps this light fare from taking flight. Chan's martial arts don't match the plot's promise: a sense of wondrous, global adventure. The role of inventor Phileas Fogg's loyal valet, memorably played in the 1956 movie by Mexican actor Cantinflas, has been changed to suit Chan's presumed appeal. Fogg, portrayed by David Niven as an intelligent creator, is reimagined as a bumbling inventor (through no fault of actor Steve Coogan). Keeping the plot while distorting its characterizations slows and dulls the movie.

80 Days is surprisingly good in bursts, with several funny lines, fine performances and, with each exotic locale, visually inviting transitions. Cecile de France plays an artist and Fogg's romantic interest with a blend of lightness and cheer. In certain scenes, 80 Days wants to dramatize the creator actualizing his visionsï¿½Jules Verne at his bestï¿½but illusions of something grander than a Jackie Chan vehicle are killed by Chan's antics and a subplot about restoring a religious symbol to Chan's Oriental village. Nothing against Chan, who's entertaining in his own right, but his sidekick dominates a movie that needs a right hand man. The 1956 original presented a lone visionary, accompanied by a mischievous companion and Shirley MacLaine's princess, proving he could master the elements and travel the globe in 80 days. Along the way, Mr. Niven's arrogant inventor Fogg discovered the whole world, with rich cultural contrasts depicted as colorful postcards and each place as a step toward their lofty goal. The remake lacks that sense of purpose. It stops cold everywhere and for far too long.

The itinerary drags because each visit is suited to Chan'sï¿½not the story'sï¿½strengths. By subjugating brilliant Fogg, Around the World in 80 Days is deflated of its reason. Multiculturalism creeps in, with pretty pictures reduced to preachy lessons. When the travelers are stuck in Asia, the movie sinks to its lowest point. Tribal gangs kick it out in a scene that resembles an Al Qaeda video with hooded men in black as the good guys. Soon Fogg is in America, having left the others behind, and he is ineffectual on his ownï¿½this genius needs others to be his best. The difference between the original's journey to America and the Disney version is striking; the U.S. has gone from a vast, wild frontier of self-reliant men and marauding Indians to San Francisco street nymphs and faceless New Yorkers. Bright spots do shine. Despite the cartoonish slamming into walls, 80 Days is relatively clean for the family. The always delightful Kathy Bates is a welcome diversion in a small role as Queen Victoria. Jim Broadbent plays the villain with his finest scowl.

Coogan, Chan and de France possess charm in the best scenes. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a lecherous Turk, and he's as bland as usual. Where the 1956 movie provided cameos by Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, Noel Coward and Buster Keaton, the Disney version offers Owen and Luke Wilson as the Wright Brothersï¿½presenting the first men to fly as a couple of hapless huckstersï¿½and it underscores what's missing from 80 Days: the excitement of man's most daring adventures. REVIEWS OF SIMILAR MOVIES: At the Movies: Around the World in 80 Days "I think you'll find that it's actually "Escalator to the lift...via the elevator"!" More» Around the World in 80 Days London inventor Phileas Fogg places a bet with his friends that he can traverse the globe in 80 days, and is accompanied by his new Chinese valet, Passepartout who is actually on the run, having stolen a valuable Jade Buddha.

Margaret: Around the World in 80 Days Review by David Stratton And now to ï¿½Around The World In 80 Daysï¿½. Itï¿½s London in the year 1890, and Phileas Fogg, (Steve Coogan), a wealthy dilettante and passionate inventor, acquires a new valet, Lau Xing, (Jackie Chan), on the run after robbing the Bank of England of a jade Buddha. Calling himself Passepartout, he becomes Foggï¿½s assistant in his experiments. The odious Lord Kelvin, played by Jim Broadbent, Minister for Science and Head of the Royal Academy, makes a bet with Fogg that, if he travels around the world in 80 days, he can have Kelvinï¿½s job; if not, he can never submit another invention. The journey proper begins in Paris, where they are joined by artist Monique La Roche, Cecile de France and where members of a Chinese gang, Black Scorpions, battle to retrieve the stolen Buddha.

The 1956 version of Jules Verneï¿½s much-loved book, though it surprisingly won the Oscar for Best Film, was a pretty ordinary affair, distinguished mainly by its gallery of guest stars and Victor Youngï¿½s music score. The new film seems primarily designed as a Jackie Chan vehicle, and as such itï¿½s pretty average; nor is it very faithful to Jules Verne, who wouldnï¿½t recognise the sub-plot involving the Black Scorpions. Steve Coogan is an amiable Fogg, and Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan. There are a few guest stars here too, and though John Cleese is sadly wasted, The Governor of California is hilarious as a randy Turk who wants to add Monique to his harem. Director Frank Coraci, best known for his Adam Sandler films, does a fairly routine job, but the film is amiable enough, and some of the jokes amusing enough, for it to pass muster as undemanding family entertainment. 'Around The World in 80 Days' opened today. Further comments David: Margaret? Margaret:Yes.

It's no wonder school holidays are around the corner because it is, it's perfect, isn't it? It's sort of like, it doesn't soar, even though the balloon does. Jackie Chan choreographed the whole thing, all the action sequences, and, you know, he does a lovely job and it's fun. But Steve Coogan looks so uncomfortable in this role. David: It's strange casting in a way, isn't it? Margaret: Oh, very. And, I mean, I think he knows it. So, I mean, you know, it's sort of like it's fun on a certain level and perfectly suited to the whole family. What more can we say? David: Yeah. I mean, I guess you could say Jackie Chan used to do such wonderful stuff and it's slightly sad to see him now late in his career not really coming up to the high standards he set himself earlier on. Margaret: He's into self punishment, isn't he? David: He sure is, yeah. Margaret: I'm giving this 3 stars. David: Me too. 3 stars.

Your review Around the World in 80 Days (2004) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Around the World in 80 Days ( 2004 ) PG | To win a bet, an eccentric British inventor beside his Chinese valet and an aspiring French artist, embarks on a trip full of adventures and dangers around the world in exactly 80 days.

Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 21 titles created 21 Nov 2011 a list of 49 titles created 24 Dec 2012 a list of 26 titles created 12 Dec 2013 a list of 35 titles created 01 Oct 2014 a list of 24 titles created 06 Oct 2015 Title: Around the World in 80 Days (2004) 5.8/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Former CIA spy Bob Ho takes on his toughest assignment to date: looking after his girlfriend's three kids, who haven't exactly warmed to their mom's beau. Director: Brian Levant Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home, the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master. Director: Harald Zwart A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.

Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie Disgraced Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe is handed a new assignment: Protect the five Plummer kids from enemies of their recently deceased father -- a government scientist whose top-secret experiment remains in the kids' house. Director: Adam Shankman Mr. Bean wins a trip to Cannes where he unwittingly separates a young boy from his father and must help the two come back together. On the way he discovers France, bicycling, and true love, among other things. Director: Steve Bendelack Edit Storyline Set in 1872, the story focuses on Passepartout, a Chinese thief who steals a valuable jade Buddha and then seeks refuge in the traveling companionship of an eccentric London inventor and adventurer, Phileas Fogg, who has taken on a bet with members of his gentlemen's club that he can make it around the world in a mere 80 days, using a variety of means of transportation, like boats, trains, balloons, elephants, etc. Along the way, Passepartout uses his amazing martial arts abilities to defend Fogg from the many dangers they face..

One major threat to their adventure is a detective that's following them. Why? Just as Fogg and Passeportout left London, a major bank was robbed, with Fogg suspected of using the "around the world" trip as an excuse to escape.. Their path from London and back includes stops in Paris, Turkey, India, China and USA... Written by austin4577@aol.com The race begins: June 16. See more » Genres: Rated PG for action violence, some crude humor and mild language | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 16 June 2004 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Around the World in Eighty Days See more » Filming Locations: $7,576,132 (USA) (18 June 2004) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia With a box office loss of around $80 million, this film is considered the biggest independently released flop in film history (it was made by an independent group under Disney). See more » Goofs On the paddle-ship on the Atlantic, the paddles are turning and some of the sails are also unfurled.

However if the wind was having any effect it would have to be going faster than the ship. In that case the smoke from the smokestack should be blown forward, in the direction of travel. In fact it is shown going sideways or even backwards; this implies that the sails are actually causing a drag on the ship, slowing it down. See more » Quotes Phileas Fogg : Why does she stay? Prince Hapi : She will be my wife. One of seven. Monique La Roche : Surprised. You have seven wives? Prince Hapi : One for every day of the week. Do Tuesdays work for you? (New York, N.Y.) – See all my reviews There are classic films and fun films and even, very rarely, fun films that become classics. That's certainly true of Mike Todd's 1956 "Around the World in 80 Days" which captured much of the fantastical verve of Jules Verne's original story. That movie also introduced, basically for the first time, the idea of an onslaught of cameo appearances by famous screen stars, not always readily identifiable.

So now as we start to bake at the beginning of a long, languid summer, new director Frank Coraci gives us the irrepressible but getting a bit long-in-the-tooth master acrobat/gymnast/kung-fu artist/stunt man Jackie Chan in a very loose adaptation of the Verne novel. Chan is Passepartout, valet to the inimitably neurotic inventor, Phineas Fogg (Steve Coogan), but in this film his real identity is that of a Chinese fellow, Lau Xing, whose mission is to return a stolen Buddha statue to his village. Nefarious English lords have an imperialistic and self-aggrandizing plan of their own which includes tearing down the Great Wall of China to get easy access to jade mines. Jim Broadbent is superbly Victorian-evil as Lord Kelvin, the head of the Royal Society of Science who challenges inventor Fogg to succeed in traversing the Earth in 80 days or else cease and desist forever from engaging in scientific experimentation and Rube Goldberg-like inventing.

Passepartout, who swiped the Buddha, has both cops and Chinese killers, led by a woman, General Fang, in hot pursuit and his service to Fogg is a guise to get back to China. Arriving in Paris, they are joined by the beautiful semi-Impressionist painter, Monique La Roche played by the rising young French actress, Cecile De France. Winsome and cute, De France clearly had a great time making this flick. Coogan plays Fogg very well-in fact he's the most interesting actor in the movie. He took his role of a Henry Higgins-type scholarly recluse who slowly falls in love seriously. The story proceeds predictably. While Chan is the star, his performance is simply a well-choreographed reprise of past made-in-the West films where he can show off his skills. It's "Shanghai Night" all over again. Perhaps this is his last such movie as his announcement earlier this week that he intends to be a "serious" actor from now on pushed Iraq, gasoline prices and the Bush-Kerry campaign off the front pages. As with the original movie, cameo appearances are a small but welcome treat.

The guy who beat Mary Carey for governor of a western state last year is really devilishly funny as an Istanbul prince with a harem and an eye for acquiring Monique. The Wilson brothers play two young and later to be famous siblings whose great stunt at Kitty Hawk supposedly changed the world. And Cathy Bates seems to have had a tough time not laughing as she acted the part of the hardly imperious Widow of Windsor. The set designs, cinematography and special effects are really excellent. I can see several Oscar nominations forthcoming. Don't take this movie seriously-it won't dislodge the original from the pantheon of lastingly memorable films. Enjoy it as the summer fun vehicle it's meant to be. Or in any event is. 8/10 57 of 85 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Mormon Characters in book, movie "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004) "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004) and the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days (1872) (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004) Directed by Frank Coraci Screenplay by David N.

Titcher (as David Titcher), David Benullo and David Andrew Goldstein (as David Goldstein) Based on the novel by Jules Verne (Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) Starring: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile De France, Robert Fyfe, Jim Broadbent, Ian McNeice, David Ryall, Roger Hammond, Adam Godley, Karen Mok, Ewen Bremner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, John Cleese, Will Forte, Kathy Bates, Perry Blake (Perry Andelin Blake) MPAA Rating: PG Production budget: $110,000,000 Introduction: The big budget feature film "Around the World in 80 Days" is yet another adaptation of the classic tale by famed French author Jules Verne. Written in French, the novel was originally published in 1872 in serial form as Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours.

Around the World in Eighty Days (as with many of Verne's other works, including Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea; A Journey to the Center of the Earth; From the Earth to the Moon and The Mysterious Island ) has been translated into numerous languages and has provided inspiration for countless subsequent writers, artists and filmmakers. The original Jules Verne novel features Utah and Latter-day Saints in three of its 37 chapters. One chapter focuses entirely on Latter-day Saint history and characters. These chapters are: XXVI. In which Phileas Fogg and Party Travel by the Pacific Railroad XXVII. In which Passepartout Undergoes, at a Speed of Twenty Miles an Hour, a Course of Mormon History XXVIII. In which Passepartout Does Not Succeed in Making Anybody Listen to Reason The 2004 movie version, however, has dropped most of this content, and merely features a brief glimpe of Utah while the train that the characters are travelling on passes through. Around the World in Eighty Days has been adapted to film at least 8 times, including theatrically released movies, TV miniseries, and direct-to-video productions.

Prior to the $110 million Jackie Chan movie released in 2004 the best known version was Michael Anderson's 1956 feature film "Around the World in Eighty Days," starring David Niven as the central character Phileas Fogg. Although filled with characters, locations and situations from the original novel, director Frank Coraci's 2004 adaptation is a looser adaptation than the 1956 film. The 2004 version stars the world's most famous Asian actor/martial arts action star Jackie Chan as "Passepartout," Fogg's valet. To incorporate Chan into the role occupied in the novel by a French servant, the movie introduces a major subplot about Chan's character coming retrieving a jade Buddha statuette stolen from his Chinese village. As the film begins Chan's character steals the statuette back from a bank in London. To escape the police chasing him, Chan impersonates a French valet and becomes the servant to Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan). He joins Fogg on the gentleman's trip around the world, thinking it the fastest way to return the jade Buddha to his village before the village.

At their first stop in Paris, the pair run into a coat check girl named Monique La Roche (played by Cecile De France) who joins their trip without being invited, hoping to find adventure and inspiration for her would-be career as a painter. Utah/Latter-day Saint Content in the 2004 movie "Around the World in 80 Days" As mentioned above, the full chapter of Latter-day Saint-related content in the original Jules Verne novel, along with two chapters of traversing through Utah, are not included in the 2004 movie adaptation. In the place of these chapters there is a comedic scene in which the main characters (Phileas Fogg, Passepartout and Monique) run into Orville and Wilbur Wright, allowing for a comical cameo appearance by actors Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson. This scene takes place immediately after the party leaves San Francisco. Phileas Fogg and Monique are shown standing in the desert next to a stagecoach with a broken wheel. It has been many hours since Passepartout left to find help.

The subtitle reads simply "DAY 66: SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT." The Wright Brothers, driving a wagon indicating that they are travelling bicycle repairmen, happen upon Fogg and Monique. After some light comedic patter, the brothers finally mention that they have Passepartout with them, having rescued picked him up in a desperate, thirsty, half-naked state. After the Wright Brothers show Fogg their plans for an airplane design (a minor plot point now, but one that will have a big payoff in the film's climax), Fogg and his company are shown once again on their way, a Wright Brothers replacement wheel in place on their coach. The next scene shows a train, indicating that Fogg, Passepartout and Monique reached a train station using their repaired stage coach, and took passage on it. The train is clearly travelling through the Southwest. In a highly stylized transition scene beginning at 1 hour, 29 minutes, 23 seconds after the start of the film, we see the train approaching a Southwestern horizon. On the left side of the train track is a natural arch, apparently the same famous arch in Utah's Arches National Park which is depicted on the Utah license plate.

As the train comes closer to the arch, a totem pole on the left side of the track bends toward the front of the train, and once wooden bird on the totem pole becomes the a living chicken from Fogg's dreams. It then appears that the chicken is run into by the screen, as if the viewer is riding the train and viewing this from behind the front window or windshield. The train track warps and the screen fills with stylized clocks, obscuring the Southwestern United States scenery and the Utah arch. Newspapers cover the screen, showing articles about the enthusiasm of people from around the world who are following Fogg's journey and cheering him on. Then Fogg, Passepartout and Monique are shown arriving in New York City, the setting for the film's next elaborate set piece (involving Chinese warriors sent to kill them in a warehouse housing the yet-to-be-assembled Statue of Liberty). The scene with the Wright Brothers takes place in this film roughly where the novel's Utah chapters take place. But the scene could be anywhere in the Southwest. The only thing clearly identifiable as being in Utah is the arch, which is only on screen for 3 seconds. The entire section set in the Southwestern U.S.

desert, from the time it is first shown until the transition scene ending with the train, lasts is 3 minutes long. The movie, departing from the original novel, has no Latter-day Saint characters or references at all. Perry Andelin Blake and "Around the World in 80 Days" While on the subjects of Latter-day Saints and "Around the World in 80 Days," it is worth noting that the production designer for this $110 budgeted feature film was none other than Perry Andelin Blake, who is easily one of the most successful Latter-day Saint production designers working today. Blake is best known for his acclaimed production design work on most of Adam Sandler's movies. Blake was also the director of the feature film "The Master of Disguise," starring Dana Carvey. The design for "Around the World in 80 Days" called designing settings and visuals for a film set 100 years ago in dozens of far flung locations. This was easily his most elaborate job to date. The film, regardless of how judges the story and overall film, looks great. Perry Andelin Blake also has a cameo appearance in the movie.

Billed in the credits as "Perry Blake," the artist responsible for designing this movie appears in it as famed painter Vincent Van Gogh. This cameo takes place in a scene in Paris, France, which is the first stop that Phileas Fogg and Passepartout make after leaving London. While in an art gallery, Fogg meets Monique La Roche for the first time. Fogg expresses admiration for Monique's painting of a man flying alongside a chicken. She is glad he likes it: Monique La Roche (played by Cecile De France): I'm glad you like my painting. Monique La Roche. [Offers Fogg her hand to shake, by way of greeting.] Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan): Phileas Fogg [Shakes her hand cordially.] Well, I must say, it's an awful lot better than these... amateurs.

[Camera pans to another corner of the room, where a red-bearded man wearing a straw hat is painting his famous masterpiece known as "Starry Night." He turns toward Fogg and Monique, revealing the other side of his head, where a massive bandage covers one ear.] Vincent Van Gogh (Perry Andelin Blake): What did he say? Excerpts (from the original Jules Verne novel) featuring Utah and Latter-day Saints Joseph Smith, Hyram Smith ("Hiram") Brigham Young, persecution by the U.S. government, the Book of Mormon, reformed Egyptian, the Kirtland Temple, Nauvoo, the Book of Abraham, Carthage and other elements of Latter-day Saint history are are recounted in chapter 27. Feel free to skip to chapter 26, which is mostly about geography. XXVIII. In which Passepartout Does Not Succeed in Making Anybody Listen to Reason XXVI. In which Phileas Fogg and Party Travel by the Pacific Railroad "From ocean to ocean"--so say the Americans; and these four words compose the general designation of the "great trunk line" which crosses the entire width of the United States.

The Pacific Railroad is, however, really divided into two distinct lines: the Central Pacific, between San Francisco and Ogden, and the Union Pacific, between Ogden and Omaha. Five main lines connect Omaha with New York. New York and San Francisco are thus united by an uninterrupted metal ribbon, which measures no less than three thousand seven hundred and eighty-six miles. Between Omaha and the Pacific the railway crosses a territory which is still infested by Indians and wild beasts, and a large tract which the Mormons, after they were driven from Illinois in 1845, began to colonise. The journey from New York to San Francisco consumed, formerly, under the most favourable conditions, at least six months. It is now accomplished in seven days. It was in 1862 that, in spite of the Southern Members of Congress, who wished a more southerly route, it was decided to lay the road between the forty-first and forty-second parallels. President Lincoln himself fixed the end of the line at Omaha, in Nebraska. The work was at once commenced, and pursued with true American energy; nor did the rapidity with which it went on injuriously affect its good execution.

The road grew, on the prairies, a mile and a half a day. A locomotive, running on the rails laid down the evening before, brought the rails to be laid on the morrow, and advanced upon them as fast as they were put in position. The Pacific Railroad is joined by several branches in Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, and Oregon. On leaving Omaha, it passes along the left bank of the Platte River as far as the junction of its northern branch, follows its southern branch, crosses the Laramie territory and the Wahsatch Mountains, turns the Great Salt Lake, and reaches Salt Lake City, the Mormon capital, plunges into the Tuilla Valley, across the American Desert, Cedar and Humboldt Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and descends, via Sacramento, to the Pacific--its grade, even on the Rocky Mountains, never exceeding one hundred and twelve feet to the mile. Such was the road to be traversed in seven days, which would enable Phileas Fogg--at least, so he hoped--to take the Atlantic steamer at New York on the 11th for Liverpool.

The car which he occupied was a sort of long omnibus on eight wheels, and with no compartments in the interior. It was supplied with two rows of seats, perpendicular to the direction of the train on either side of an aisle which conducted to the front and rear platforms. These platforms were found throughout the train, and the passengers were able to pass from one end of the train to the other. It was supplied with saloon cars, balcony cars, restaurants, and smoking-cars; theatre cars alone were wanting, and they will have these some day. Book and news dealers, sellers of edibles, drinkables, and cigars, who seemed to have plenty of customers, were continually circulating in the aisles. The train left Oakland station at six o'clock. It was already night, cold and cheerless, the heavens being overcast with clouds which seemed to threaten snow. The train did not proceed rapidly; counting the stoppages, it did not run more than twenty miles an hour, which was a sufficient speed, however, to enable it to reach Omaha within its designated time. There was but little conversation in the car, and soon many of the passengers were overcome with sleep.

Passepartout found himself beside the detective; but he did not talk to him. After recent events, their relations with each other had grown somewhat cold; there could no longer be mutual sympathy or intimacy between them. Fix's manner had not changed; but Passepartout was very reserved, and ready to strangle his former friend on the slightest provocation. Snow began to fall an hour after they started, a fine snow, however, which happily could not obstruct the train; nothing could be seen from the windows but a vast, white sheet, against which the smoke of the locomotive had a greyish aspect. At eight o'clock a steward entered the car and announced that the time for going to bed had arrived; and in a few minutes the car was transformed into a dormitory. The backs of the seats were thrown back, bedsteads carefully packed were rolled out by an ingenious system, berths were suddenly improvised, and each traveller had soon at his disposition a comfortable bed, protected from curious eyes by thick curtains. The sheets were clean and the pillows soft. It only remained to go to bed and sleep which everybody did-- while the train sped on across the State of California. The country between San Francisco and Sacramento is not very hilly.

The Central Pacific, taking Sacramento for its starting-point, extends eastward to meet the road from Omaha. The line from San Francisco to Sacramento runs in a north-easterly direction, along the American River, which empties into San Pablo Bay. The one hundred and twenty miles between these cities were accomplished in six hours, and towards midnight, while fast asleep, the travellers passed through Sacramento; so that they saw nothing of that important place, the seat of the State government, with its fine quays, its broad streets, its noble hotels, squares, and churches. The train, on leaving Sacramento, and passing the junction, Roclin, Auburn, and Colfax, entered the range of the Sierra Nevada. 'Cisco was reached at seven in the morning; and an hour later the dormitory was transformed into an ordinary car, and the travellers could observe the picturesque beauties of the mountain region through which they were steaming. The railway track wound in and out among the passes, now approaching the mountain-sides, now suspended over precipices, avoiding abrupt angles by bold curves, plunging into narrow defiles, which seemed to have no outlet.

The locomotive, its great funnel emitting a weird light, with its sharp bell, and its cow-catcher extended like a spur, mingled its shrieks and bellowings with the noise of torrents and cascades, and twined its smoke among the branches of the gigantic pines. There were few or no bridges or tunnels on the route. The railway turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to violate nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another. The train entered the State of Nevada through the Carson Valley about nine o'clock, going always northeasterly; and at midday reached Reno, where there was a delay of twenty minutes for breakfast. From this point the road, running along Humboldt River, passed northward for several miles by its banks; then it turned eastward, and kept by the river until it reached the Humboldt Range, nearly at the extreme eastern limit of Nevada. Having breakfasted, Mr. Fogg and his companions resumed their places in the car, and observed the varied landscape which unfolded itself as they passed along the vast prairies, the mountains lining the horizon, and the creeks, with their frothy, foaming streams.

Sometimes a great herd of buffaloes, massing together in the distance, seemed like a moveable dam. These innumerable multitudes of ruminating beasts often form an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the trains; thousands of them have been seen passing over the track for hours together, in compact ranks. The locomotive is then forced to stop and wait till the road is once more clear. This happened, indeed, to the train in which Mr. Fogg was travelling. About twelve o'clock a troop of ten or twelve thousand head of buffalo encumbered the track. The locomotive, slackening its speed, tried to clear the way with its cow-catcher; but the mass of animals was too great. The buffaloes marched along with a tranquil gait, uttering now and then deafening bellowings. There was no use of interrupting them, for, having taken a particular direction, nothing can moderate and change their course; it is a torrent of living flesh which no dam could contain.

The travellers gazed on this curious spectacle from the platforms; but Phileas Fogg, who had the most reason of all to be in a hurry, remained in his seat, and waited philosophically until it should please the buffaloes to get out of the way. Passepartout was furious at the delay they occasioned, and longed to discharge his arsenal of revolvers upon them. "What a country!" cried he. "Mere cattle stop the trains, and go by in a procession, just as if they were not impeding travel! Parbleu! I should like to know if Mr. Fogg foresaw this mishap in his programme! And here's an engineer who doesn't dare to run the locomotive into this herd of beasts!" The engineer did not try to overcome the obstacle, and he was wise. He would have crushed the first buffaloes, no doubt, with the cow-catcher; but the locomotive, however powerful, would soon have been checked, the train would inevitably have been thrown off the track, and would then have been helpless. The best course was to wait patiently, and regain the lost time by greater speed when the obstacle was removed.

The procession of buffaloes lasted three full hours, and it was night before the track was clear. The last ranks of the herd were now passing over the rails, while the first had already disappeared below the southern horizon. It was eight o'clock when the train passed through the defiles of the Humboldt Range, and half-past nine when it penetrated Utah, the region of the Great Salt Lake, the singular colony of the Mormons. XXVII. In which Passepartout Undergoes, at a Speed of Twenty Miles an Hour, a Course of Mormon History During the night of the 5th of December, the train ran south-easterly for about fifty miles; then rose an equal distance in a north-easterly direction, towards the Great Salt Lake. Passepartout, about nine o'clock, went out upon the platform to take the air. The weather was cold, the heavens grey, but it was not snowing. The sun's disc, enlarged by the mist, seemed an enormous ring of gold, and Passepartout was amusing himself by calculating its value in pounds sterling, when he was diverted from this interesting study by a strange-looking personage who made his appearance on the platform.

This personage, who had taken the train at Elko, was tall and dark, with black moustache, black stockings, a black silk hat, a black waistcoat, black trousers, a white cravat, and dogskin gloves. He might have been taken for a clergyman. He went from one end of the train to the other, and affixed to the door of each car a notice written in manuscript. Passepartout approached and read one of these notices, which stated that Elder William Hitch, Mormon missionary, taking advantage of his presence on train No. 48, would deliver a lecture on Mormonism in car No. 117, from eleven to twelve o'clock; and that he invited all who were desirous of being instructed concerning the mysteries of the religion of the "Latter Day Saints" to attend. "I'll go," said Passepartout to himself. He knew nothing of Mormonism except the custom of polygamy, which is its foundation. The news quickly spread through the train, which contained about one hundred passengers, thirty of whom, at most, attracted by the notice, ensconced themselves in car No. 117. Passepartout took one of the front seats.

Neither Mr. Fogg nor Fix cared to attend. At the appointed hour Elder William Hitch rose, and, in an irritated voice, as if he had already been contradicted, said, "I tell you that Joe Smith is a martyr, that his brother Hiram is a martyr, and that the persecutions of the United States Government against the prophets will also make a martyr of Brigham Young. Who dares to say the contrary?" No one ventured to gainsay the missionary, whose excited tone contrasted curiously with his naturally calm visage. No doubt his anger arose from the hardships to which the Mormons were actually subjected. The government had just succeeded, with some difficulty, in reducing these independent fanatics to its rule. It had made itself master of Utah, and subjected that territory to the laws of the Union, after imprisoning Brigham Young on a charge of rebellion and polygamy. The disciples of the prophet had since redoubled their efforts, and resisted, by words at least, the authority of Congress. Elder Hitch, as is seen, was trying to make proselytes on the very railway trains.

Then, emphasising his words with his loud voice and frequent gestures, he related the history of the Mormons from Biblical times: how that, in Israel, a Mormon prophet of the tribe of Joseph published the annals of the new religion, and bequeathed them to his son Mormon; how, many centuries later, a translation of this precious book, which was written in Egyptian, was made by Joseph Smith, junior, a Vermont farmer, who revealed himself as a mystical prophet in 1825; and how, in short, the celestial messenger appeared to him in an illuminated forest, and gave him the annals of the Lord.

Several of the audience, not being much interested in the missionary's narrative, here left the car; but Elder Hitch, continuing his lecture, related how Smith, junior, with his father, two brothers, and a few disciples, founded the church of the "Latter Day Saints," which, adopted not only in America, but in England, Norway and Sweden, and Germany, counts many artisans, as well as men engaged in the liberal professions, among its members; how a colony was established in Ohio, a temple erected there at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a town built at Kirkland; how Smith became an enterprising banker, and received from a simple mummy showman a papyrus scroll written by Abraham and several famous Egyptians. The Elder's story became somewhat wearisome, and his audience grew gradually less, until it was reduced to twenty passengers.

But this did not disconcert the enthusiast, who proceeded with the story of Joseph Smith's bankruptcy in 1837, and how his ruined creditors gave him a coat of tar and feathers; his reappearance some years afterwards, more honourable and honoured than ever, at Independence, Missouri, the chief of a flourishing colony of three thousand disciples, and his pursuit thence by outraged Gentiles, and retirement into the Far West. Ten hearers only were now left, among them honest Passepartout, who was listening with all his ears. Thus he learned that, after long persecutions, Smith reappeared in Illinois, and in 1839 founded a community at Nauvoo, on the Mississippi, numbering twenty-five thousand souls, of which he became mayor, chief justice, and general-in-chief; that he announced himself, in 1843, as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States; and that finally, being drawn into ambuscade at Carthage, he was thrown into prison, and assassinated by a band of men disguised in masks.

Passepartout was now the only person left in the car, and the Elder, looking him full in the face, reminded him that, two years after the assassination of Joseph Smith, the inspired prophet, Brigham Young, his successor, left Nauvoo for the banks of the Great Salt Lake, where, in the midst of that fertile region, directly on the route of the emigrants who crossed Utah on their way to California, the new colony, thanks to the polygamy practised by the Mormons, had flourished beyond expectations. "And this," added Elder William Hitch, "this is why the jealousy of Congress has been aroused against us! Why have the soldiers of the Union invaded the soil of Utah? Why has Brigham Young, our chief, been imprisoned, in contempt of all justice? Shall we yield to force? Never! Driven from Vermont, driven from Illinois, driven from Ohio, driven from Missouri, driven from Utah, we shall yet find some independent territory on which to plant our tents.

And you, my brother," continued the Elder, fixing his angry eyes upon his single auditor, "will you not plant yours there, too, under the shadow of our flag?" "No!" replied Passepartout courageously, in his turn retiring from the car, and leaving the Elder to preach to vacancy. During the lecture the train had been making good progress, and towards half-past twelve it reached the northwest border of the Great Salt Lake. Thence the passengers could observe the vast extent of this interior sea, which is also called the Dead Sea, and into which flows an American Jordan. It is a picturesque expanse, framed in lofty crags in large strata, encrusted with white salt-- a superb sheet of water, which was formerly of larger extent than now, its shores having encroached with the lapse of time, and thus at once reduced its breadth and increased its depth. The Salt Lake, seventy miles long and thirty-five wide, is situated three miles eight hundred feet above the sea.

Quite different from Lake Asphaltite, whose depression is twelve hundred feet below the sea, it contains considerable salt, and one quarter of the weight of its water is solid matter, its specific weight being 1,170, and, after being distilled, 1,000. Fishes are, of course, unable to live in it, and those which descend through the Jordan, the Weber, and other streams soon perish. The country around the lake was well cultivated, for the Mormons are mostly farmers; while ranches and pens for domesticated animals, fields of wheat, corn, and other cereals, luxuriant prairies, hedges of wild rose, clumps of acacias and milk-wort, would have been seen six months later. Now the ground was covered with a thin powdering of snow. The train reached Ogden at two o'clock, where it rested for six hours, Mr.

Fogg and his party had time to pay a visit to Salt Lake City, connected with Ogden by a branch road; and they spent two hours in this strikingly American town, built on the pattern of other cities of the Union, like a checker-board, "with the sombre sadness of right-angles," as Victor Hugo expresses it. The founder of the City of the Saints could not escape from the taste for symmetry which distinguishes the Anglo-Saxons. In this strange country, where the people are certainly not up to the level of their institutions, everything is done "squarely"--cities, houses, and follies. The travellers, then, were promenading, at three o'clock, about the streets of the town built between the banks of the Jordan and the spurs of the Wahsatch Range. They saw few or no churches, but the prophet's mansion, the court-house, and the arsenal, blue-brick houses with verandas and porches, surrounded by gardens bordered with acacias, palms, and locusts. A clay and pebble wall, built in 1853, surrounded the town; and in the principal street were the market and several hotels adorned with pavilions.

The place did not seem thickly populated. The streets were almost deserted, except in the vicinity of the temple, which they only reached after having traversed several quarters surrounded by palisades. There were many women, which was easily accounted for by the "peculiar institution" of the Mormons; but it must not be supposed that all the Mormons are polygamists. They are free to marry or not, as they please; but it is worth noting that it is mainly the female citizens of Utah who are anxious to marry, as, according to the Mormon religion, maiden ladies are not admitted to the possession of its highest joys. These poor creatures seemed to be neither well off nor happy. Some--the more well-to-do, no doubt-- wore short, open, black silk dresses, under a hood or modest shawl; others were habited in Indian fashion. Passepartout could not behold without a certain fright these women, charged, in groups, with conferring happiness on a single Mormon. His common sense pitied, above all, the husband.

It seemed to him a terrible thing to have to guide so many wives at once across the vicissitudes of life, and to conduct them, as it were, in a body to the Mormon paradise with the prospect of seeing them in the company of the glorious Smith, who doubtless was the chief ornament of that delightful place, to all eternity. He felt decidedly repelled from such a vocation, and he imagined--perhaps he was mistaken-- that the fair ones of Salt Lake City cast rather alarming glances on his person. Happily, his stay there was but brief. At four the party found themselves again at the station, took their places in the train, and the whistle sounded for starting. Just at the moment, however, that the locomotive wheels began to move, cries of "Stop! stop!" were heard. Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one. The gentleman who uttered the cries was evidently a belated Mormon. He was breathless with running. Happily for him, the station had neither gates nor barriers. He rushed along the track, jumped on the rear platform of the train, and fell, exhausted, into one of the seats.

Passepartout, who had been anxiously watching this amateur gymnast, approached him with lively interest, and learned that he had taken flight after an unpleasant domestic scene. When the Mormon had recovered his breath, Passepartout ventured to ask him politely how many wives he had; for, from the manner in which he had decamped, it might be thought that he had twenty at least. "One, sir," replied the Mormon, raising his arms heavenward --"one, and that was enough!" XXVIII. In which Passepartout Does Not Succeed in Making Anybody Listen to Reason The train, on leaving Great Salt Lake at Ogden, passed northward for an hour as far as Weber River, having completed nearly nine hundred miles from San Francisco. From this point it took an easterly direction towards the jagged Wahsatch Mountains. It was in the section included between this range and the Rocky Mountains that the American engineers found the most formidable difficulties in laying the road, and that the government granted a subsidy of forty-eight thousand dollars per mile, instead of sixteen thousand allowed for the work done on the plains. But the engineers, instead of violating nature, avoided its difficulties by winding around, instead of penetrating the rocks.

One tunnel only, fourteen thousand feet in length, was pierced in order to arrive at the great basin. The track up to this time had reached its highest elevation at the Great Salt Lake. From this point it described a long curve, descending towards Bitter Creek Valley, to rise again to the dividing ridge of the waters between the Atlantic and the Pacific. There were many creeks in this mountainous region, and it was necessary to cross Muddy Creek, Green Creek, and others, upon culverts. Passepartout grew more and more impatient as they went on, while Fix longed to get out of this difficult region, and was more anxious than Phileas Fogg himself to be beyond the danger of delays and accidents, and set foot on English soil. At ten o'clock at night the train stopped at Fort Bridger station, and twenty minutes later entered Wyoming Territory, following the valley of Bitter Creek throughout. The next day, 7th December, they stopped for a quarter of an hour at Green River station. [This chapter continues, now outside of Utah.] Webpage created 12 November 2004.

Question: Which actor and comedian played 'Phileas Fogg' in the 2004 film 'Around The World In Eighty Days'?
Answer: STEVE COOGAN